Kyaukse elephant dance festival ( my, ကျောက်ဆည်ဆင်ပွဲ) is an annual major traditional dance festival in Myanmar. It is held is on the day before full moon day of the Burmese lunar month of

Thadingyut Thadingyut ( my, သီတင်းကျွတ်) is the seventh month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Myanmar term "thadin" (သီတင်း) means the Buddhist Lent (Vassa), which spans the three preceding lunar months and is the tradi ...

and the full moon day in

Kyaukse Kyaukse ( my, ကျောက်ဆည် မြို့, ) is town and capital of Kyaukse District in Mandalay Region, Myanmar. Lying on the Zawgyi River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Mandalay, it is served by the Mandalay-Yangon (Rangoon) railway ...

, near

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

. The festival has been celebrated every year since Pagan period and also grown in popularity among the growing number of foreign tourists visiting Myanmar. The colourful competition sees teams and individuals wearing elephant costumes perform various traditional dances.

History

King

Anawratha Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

obtained several Buddhist relics on a trip to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Upon his return to Pagan, he decided to build a pagoda to house the precious relics. He strapped the replica of the Buddha's teeth to the back of his white elephant Sinma Yintha and told the elephant to choose a suitable spot for the new pagoda. When the elephant stopped in the two hills, named Thalyaung and Pyetkhaywe, the monarch ordered the construction of pagodas on each summit and enshrined the relic at

Shwethalyaung Pagoda Shwethalyaung Pagoda ( my, ရွှေသာလျောင်းဘုရား) is a Buddhist temple in Kyaukse, Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It is located on top of the Shwethalyaung Hill. The pagoda was built by King Anawrahta of Bagan and ensh ...

. To honor the royal elephants a festival is held every year at the foot of

Shwethalyaung Hill Shwethalyaung Hill ( my, ရွှေသာလျောင်းတောင်), also known as Kyaukse Hill ( my, ကျောက်ဆည်တောင်), is a hill that is located to the east of Kyaukse in Myanmar. Shwethalyaung Hill is kn ...

Held

Since the days of King Anawratha, Kyaukse town upon Shwethalyaung Hill has celebrated the elephant dance festival. Traditionally locals don a colourfully decorated, life-size elephant costume, welcoming the end of

with a unique array of dance and acrobats. The festival is held every year on the day before full moon day of Thadingut with a total of 29 elephants gracing the stage – 17 traditional, six sequined, and six baby elephants, according to the committee. A huge elephant figure is made from bamboo and paper. The competition teams from various wards of Kyaukse. Men take their places inside the figure and dance around the town to the accompanied by drums, oboe, cymbals, brass gongs and bamboo clappers. The elephant dancers circles three times at the foot of the hill to pay homage to the Shwethalyaung Pagoda and then compete in front of a panel of judges. It is a dance that requires precise rhythm and timing in order for the elephant dancers to maintain unity inside the elephant figure. People from far and near come to visit Kyaukse and watch the elephant dance. Awards are given out to each distinct elephant group, for those that show the most convincing and traditional portrayal of the elephant dance. Winners get to take home a sum of cash prizes for their deft performances and hours of training. First-place winners of the traditional elephant contest receive K1 million; second place, K800,000; and third K600,000. Prizes are given out for the sequined and baby elephant competition as well, with financial support from the committee. On the full moon day, thousands of pilgrims carry small paper elephants 900 feet (275 metres) uphill to the pagoda on top of the Tha Lyaung hill. At the top, they walk around the pagoda three times clockwise and present their donations.

References

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External links

Dancing Elephants Festival
Buddhist festivals in Myanmar